Photo by Cecilia Brown
Attention soup and bread enthusiasts: if you have not yet visited Freeman Dining Hall this semester, or spoken with someone who has, you are in for a rude surprise. The warm, autumnal red walls have been painted a generic, waiting-room variety light blue. Instead of the dark wooden tables, there are Harris-style Formica-topped tables. There is no longer a carpet, but instead hard tiles. The random, yet endearing pictures of fruit? Those are gone, too. In short, everything that made Freeman a cozy respite from daily Harris visits has been replaced with a much less homey alternative.
Dining Services decided carpeting did not belong in a dining hall for sanitary reasons which, I admit, is understandable. However, the reasoning behind the disappearance of the rest of the details that gave Freeman its characteristic charm was simply an attempt at a newer, more updated look.
There are plenty of cases in which new things are good things; the refurbished bathrooms in Lazrus House, for example. I don’t think anyone could be upset about those, or argue that the old ones were “homier.” But new does not always mean improved, and in the case of Freeman, the new look is definitely a downgrade.
Granted, it is now sparkling, spacious and bright, but from a student’s point of view, this campus is our home. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that most of us do not want our home to look like sterile, institutional places like the Plex. Sadly, Freeman Dining Hall has joined these ranks. Older touches are pleasant, comforting and welcoming. And they can be just as functional.
There was nothing wrong with Freeman’s décor other than the fact that it was old. And if students actually liked the atmosphere in Freeman and felt more at home in it, why couldn’t the school have spent its money on something more useful that would not have taken away one of the few cozy spaces we have on campus? Unfortunately, students were not consulted about the changes. Had our opinions been considered, the response would have been pretty clear. When I asked other students what they thought of Freeman’s new look, I got responses like, “It’s upsetting.” Another student said, “If I wanted to eat in Harris, I’d go to Harris.” A third response was a candid “it sucks!”
With that said, the damage has already been done. All we can do now is reminisce about the cozy soup and bread days of yore, and hope that in the future our opinions will be considered. And while it’s still warm out, I’d rather take my soup out of Freeman and eat it on the green; at least that still has some character.
